Jaco & Christine's Engagement-shoot

Hi guys,
here is a post containing more pictures that words. It consists of a selection of some of the engagement shots I took of Jaco and Christine last weekend. Driving back from Anli's birthday-party  the weekend before I noticed these beautiful white blossoms on one of their neighboring farms and knew that it would be a sin not to shoot something there while it's in bloom. I phoned Anli and she helped me to get permission from the farmer (Thank you Pedrie) to shoot there. The plan was to shoot 2 days later but unfortunately the weather turned and we had to postpone till the next weekend. Arriving on the weekend I was disappointed to see that most of the white blossoms were gone due to the wind and rain. The white blossomed orchard was now dominated by green instead of white - still pretty but a little different than I envisioned. Anyways, it is common knowledge that as a photographer you always have to be very flexible and nothing ever is exactly what one expects. Mieke, thank you for your help and input on the shoot - much appreciated.
It was a great pleasure to work with these two dear friends of mine and I'm much looking forward to their wedding.

John & Caroline

John & Caroline got married in the old Dutch-style, Tulbach Reformed Church (which is supposedly the oldest church, still in use in SA).  They were one of the most natural couples I've ever photographed - what a pleasure.
They were completely at ease in front of the camera. They hardly wanted to allow any time for a photo-session and preferred me getting nearly only natural-shots. Fine by me. Although the overall feeling of the wedding was very natural and relaxed I experienced a couple of moments of serious stress when I was photographing them during the vows and the very familiar click, click, click of my Canon5d (camera) ended in a crack-sound and then went silent completely. What timing for my camera to break!! Right there in front of the fully packed church, during the vows!!

This was like the stuff from the movies. I couldn't believe my luck.All I could do was to play it cool as if nothing was wrong. (Under no circumstances could I allow the bride and the groom to realize that something was wrong.) I casually moved to the back of the church where I (thank God!) had a back-up camera and my assistant on stand-by. It only took us a minute and camera-body's were exchanged and all was good again. Sigh of relief. (As a wedding photographer it is an absolute necessity to always have at least one back-up camera.)  This may not sound like such a big deal to you, but just imagine for one moment that there were no back-up camera on that moment/day: We're out in Tulbach far from any professional camera shops. It's a Saturday afternoon so even if we were in the city the relevant shop would still be closed. John & Caroline will be walking out of the church in about 10 min. The sun would be setting in a bit. There would be no 2nd chance to get these pictures. It's a cliche but nevertheless true: as a wedding photographer you have only one chance so you have to come fully prepared. (Unlike fashion where you have the whole day to shoot and reshoot and reshoot till the shot is right). One chance.

The rest of the day went perfect and I really, really enjoyed every moment of the rest of the wedding. I stayed at the reception till well after 1:00am to get all those party shots, then still had to drive to Stellenbosch to drop my assistant, and then back to Cape Town where I was living then. I finally made it home around 4:00. It was a long but most enjoyable day. 

  

Clifton "Bungalo"

I was asked to photograph a house yesterday. They needed 360degree shots of this house. Address: Clifton 3rd beach. Arriving there I found it ironic how the sign indicating which steps to take to each different nr refers to the houses as bungalo's. I always thought of a bungalo of the type of wood/straw structure one would typically find on a remote Thailand beach - one that costs around R35 per/night if its a expensive one right on the beach.
Anyways, although this Clifton-"bungalo" did have some wood finishes,  and was right on the beach I found the description, "bungalo", a little misleading.

 As I was photographing this "bungalo" I couldn't help but to fantasize a little about how it would be to own it as a home. I started making sums in my head..... The house is in the market for 30 million......., so I would only have to photograph... emmm ...........  around a hundred weddings a week, for the next 52 years and I could buy it cash!!! Amazing. No seriously, how does anyone earn enough to be able to afford a house of 30 mil? It's gonna take me sometime to figure that one out. Let me know if you come up with any ideas and post them down here for everyone to see. Lets make the world a better (and richer) place.
Like always,
thanks for reading.


PS: See my friend's (Duane Howard) website to see what I meant by 360degree's shots. It's also referred to as "virtual tours", which means you can actually look around in the photograph as if you're standing in the house, or landscape or whatever the location. It's pretty amazing. www.virtualshift.co.za

My 1st Blog - Life in Stellenbosch

Hi all,

My new home

I'm writing this 1st post from my new home in Stellenbosch. Yoehooo! Exciting times. I initially moved here from Bloemfontein 14 years ago to study. This time I moved here to be closer to my choir, my girlfriend who studies here, and to be in the centre of many of the most exclusive wedding venues.  I'm so  excited  about living here ,about my new blog and website, about my transformation to wedding-photography,and about my current life in general. It's a privilige to live in the centre of the Cape's beautiful winelands and I'm enjoying every moment here.         

I will try and keep a balance between writing about my private and professional life. Writing is definitely not one of my strong points, but I'll try to make up for it with my photo's. 

Thank you for reading,

Gideon